Renaissance Journaling Technique to Overcome Writer's Block

[@sarasilkwood2061]

As a visual artist, this is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about. I will start a project with research and collect endless photo references but ultimately stall on the actual drawing. Lately I’ve been trying to slow down and draw the reference that interests me. I’m drawing more at the very least and my “notes” have a kind of visual direction that makes more sense. Maybe I thought I wanted to go a certain direction with a piece, but all of the sketches I’ve done are indicating that my interest is going somewhere else. I haven’t made a real breakthrough yet, but I’m enjoying the process. That you for this video! It’s making me rethink some things.

[@zaccrowlands]

The great thing about thinking(or drawing) on paper is that it always brings more clarity. Glad to hear the video at least sparked some introspection. Thanks for watching!

[@nameetharish]

So true! Keeping a notebook (actually many.... too many.) reminds me I'm thinking on paper. Meaningful notes are extensions of my thinking. I often forget how important the practice of writing is until I open my notebook and write. This video was a wonderful reminder to stay in the habit of writing. Thanks for posting!

[@zaccrowlands]

Some of the most important writing I do is the notes to myself. I'm glad the video could help. Thanks for watching!

[@tylerbailey85]

Please do a flip-through video of your notebooks!

[@zaccrowlands]

lol I'll add it to the list of video ideas. Thanks for watching!

[@cuttyreads]

I've been trying various note taking methods over the past couple months to figure out which ones work best for me. What I have discovered is using the outline method for processing ideas and a Zibaldone for archiving the ideas of others has helped me a lot. I also do basic journalling to sift through some of my confusion, to explore ideas and how they might work, or to make connections between ideas. I think the Zibaldone method works exceptionally well for deep literature, like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy. Sometimes you really need to sit with and reread paragraphs, quotes, pages... It's good to archive them, to make the words more personal to you. It really does change how you engage with ideas and stories.

[@cuttyreads]

I also use Obsidian to archive things as well, but with more organization and refinement. Obsidian works really well for me as a second brain.

[@zaccrowlands]

It's amazing how handwriting some of the headier ideas can bring a clarity to them that typing just can't replicate for me. But, like you, I still use digital tools for other things. Where else would I catalog all the podcasts I listen to?! Thanks for watching!

[@ibenjaminclarke]

Awesome video! Quick, to the point but packed with wisdom. Liked, subbed and appreciated

[@crazycarrot6387]

The glaze is insane

[@zaccrowlands]

@@ibenjaminclarke Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.

[@davidbreier84]

One thing I found is that it's detrimental to use a process that's too elaborate. 10 different notebooks, a multi-step process or whatever doesn't help but it hampers your process. Find out what works for you. Personally I have two handwritten notebooks: A big one I keep at home and a small one I always have on hand either in a coat pocket, my bag or whatever. That's where all quotes, definitions, new words or ideas go I have over the course of a day. When one of those books is full or when I get the feeling I should do it, I curate those books and take what holds up during a re-read and then I digitize it and get it into a note-taking software (I use Joplin, but there is a bazillion different softwares that do the same). I do that because those curated notes then can be searched and preserved for future endeavours. And because I consider the note taking app my long-term second brain the information stored there should be useful and condensed as to not overcrowd it with useless stuff. That's one of the reasons I still use handwritten notes, so I reconsider what I write down and so that I use multiple filters for information: handwritten notes -> reread those notes -> maybe preserve as digital information. But I still keep my handwritten notes and journals just on the off-chance me or somebody else ever wants to retrace my thought process. For me, this process works, for other people this might already be too elaborate or too simplistic.

[@zaccrowlands]

"The tendency to gravitate toward complexity is perpetually at war with the need to prioritize." - Made to Stick This is the constant war with information we've all got to figure out. I feel like my note-taking habits are in a constant flux of complexity, followed by minimalism followed by complexity. At this point, I've accepted it.

[@samuelarduino]

Good presentation ! Thank you. guess you are familiar with the Zettelkasten method used by Niklas Luhmann a german sociology professor who was extremely productive due to his method of notetaking and archiving with extensive crossreferences. The value created is in formulating the ideas, observations and questions in your own words and then work with the 'interconnectedness' there is also value in manually writing itself instead of typing . (lots of material on the web just check Luhmann , Remarkable, handwriting and neurophysiology etc)

[@zaccrowlands]

I'm actually researching note card systems more recently. His work has come up a lot. Something I definitely want to explore in future videos is the connection between hand writing notes and the encoding of information in the brain. Intuitively, I know there's something to it, but I need to research more. Thanks for watching!

[@ximono]

1:00 Don't you see? It's exactly because any answer is a quick internet search away. Creativity comes from constraints and boredom, freedom and distractions are the antithesis to that!

[@zaccrowlands]

I'm glad someone caught that subtle hint. I 100% agree. Creative thinking needs limits to be generative or the mind will latch from one input to the next without ever forming connections between the information it already has access to. Thanks for watching!

[@Picasso_Picante92]

I've been doing this for years and never knew it was called a Zibaldone.

[@zaccrowlands]

Me neither! Reading The Notebook by Roland Allen is where I learned about its origins in Italy. Very cool to see how timeless the method is though. Thanks for watching!

[@lfg4300]

Terrific topic just sub

[@zaccrowlands]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching!